


Atsui kimochi wa...

by Ryxl



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, no one likes Sailor Luna anyway, semi-unfinished, the way things should have gone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 17:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryxl/pseuds/Ryxl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I wrote this for a friend back in 2007ish and promptly forgot about it for years; she'd asked for a fic of Minako telling Usagi who the Princess was, and it sort of spiraled from there. So consider this a 'what crack were they smoking for the last third of the show' kind of 'just shut up and get on with it' wish fulfillment fic, I guess? Apologies for the abrupt ending, but I have no idea where I was going with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maybe she didn't get the message?

            Within the secret room of Crown, Sailor Venus wandered nervously. It wasn't pacing, really, because she had no set path. To the karaoke machine, to the refreshment bar, to the wall of snack-food tubes, to the table where she paused at the unused white chair, but did not sit. She wished fleetingly that Artemis were there to reassure her, but he was gone. For this to work, they had to be split up.

_Maybe she didn't get the message?_

Artemis had sworn on his nine lives, before he left, that he'd sent the message and gotten a reply. She would be there, he'd said, and had bumped his head affectionately against her leg before slipping into the golden late-afternoon light.

            On Venus's wrist, the bracelet pulsed to mark the hour. _Six o'clock. Did she forget?_

            With a fluid motion of her wrist, the bracelet flowed into her hand and became a crescent-shaped compact, hinged at the tips. She opened it after a moment, cursing the gloves that made it hard to get the latch open. For an instant, her own worried eyes looked back at her from the crescent-shaped mirrors framing empty space, and then the space was no longer empty. Venus watched the jumping image, eyes narrowed, and tried to figure out where her target was. She recognized the front of the store her target was hurrying into, and at the same time heard pounding footsteps approach from outside the secret room. For an instant, she panicked. With a thought, the compact could take her elsewhere and no one would never know she had been there. She could avoid this whole mess. Hard on the heels of that thought came shame; she was no coward. She'd gone this far, surely this meeting couldn't be any harder than everything leading up to it.

            The door slammed open. Venus froze, head up like a startled deer, the magic of the compact already forming the tiny image of her hotel room in the space between the mirrors. At the top of the stairs, Usagi slammed the door shut and leaned against it, eyes shut, panting as though she'd run the whole way.

            "Rei-chan, hontoni gomen nasai! I didn't forget, honest, I just stopped to get an ice cream but the line was so long and they only had one guy working, I didn't know it would take that long! I totally didn't see how late it was until I got up to the front and the guy asked me what I wanted and I saw the clock behind him and ran all the way here without even getting the ice cream and-" Usagi broke off from her breathless monologue, her beseeching look stymied by the absence of the expected glare from Rei and replaced with a blank look of shock when she saw who was really there. "-and...you're not Rei-chan," she finished lamely.

            Venus smiled weakly as the compact became a bracelet once again and reminded herself that she'd agreed this was necessary, and that this was the best way.

            "Gomen nasai for the subterfuge," she said carefully, automatically dipping into the appropriate bow, very grateful that gloves easily hid sweaty palms.

            Through her eyelashes, she could see Usagi's mouth form a little 'o' as she realized that Venus being in the secret room meant Venus would figure out that she was Sailor Moon. In that instant, both girls' thoughts were exactly the same.

            _She'll know who I am! Do I want her to? That's ridiculous, I shouldn't be afraid of that - we're allies! How can I trust her with my life and still be terrified of her knowing my name?_

            "I..." Usagi broke the strained silence first. "Um...I didn't expect to see you here."

            Venus gave another weak smile. "I know. Actually-" she flashed Usagi a sheepish grin, hoping to ease the tension through distraction. "Artemis didn't tell me what was in the text message he sent. What did he tell you?"

            Usagi smothered a giggle and rolled her eyes. "I got a message from Rei - well, not really, I guess, but that's what it looked like - anyway, she said I had to be here because she had some training I had to do, and that Luna said it was okay. I wanted to ask Luna what sort of training it was, but she'd gone out before I got the message - she said there was something she needed to do." The pigtailed girl blinked and looked around, realizing that she was still at the top of the stairs, and slowly edged down towards the table in the center of the room.

            "Artemis is meeting with her right now," Venus confided. "We, um, did that so neither of you would catch on."

            "Ah." Usagi nodded politely, setting her bag on the table next to Venus in what she hoped was a casual way. "So, why...?"

            "...did I want to talk to you alone?" Venus pressed the palms of her hands against her thighs, hoping the fabric of the gloves would absorb the sweat. "There's something you have to know, Sailor Moon." She saw Usagi start out of the corner of her eye. _Hah, if I'm going to be anxious about this, so are you._

            "Anno..." Usagi twisted one ponytail in her hands in a nevous gesture. "And what would that be?"

            Venus smiled, a fatalistic expression that somehow made Usagi think of being given a great gift and, at the same time, complete surrender. A reverse shower of golden sparkles rose around the senshi of love and beauty, a fountain of mana that obscured her for no longer than it took for Usagi to blink. When it receded, Aino Minako stood where Venus had been a moment before.

            Shock. Recognition. Adoration. Shock again. Confusion. Minako watched the play of emotions across Usagi's face, waiting for the pigtailed girl to settle on one before speaking.

            "I tried to tell you," Minako finally said, apologetically.

            Usagi blinked. "You did? But how?"

            In response, the idol began singing softly. "Atsui kimochi wa-"

            "Sei - ra - vui," Usagi finished automatically, then gave Minako an odd look when she didn't continue singing.

            For her part, Minako just waited, hoping Usagi would get it. A flicker of comprehension crossed the other girl's face as Usagi realized she'd been given a clue.

            "C'est la vie," the odangoed one enunciated slowly. "Sailor V," she said again, looking at her idol with awe. "It was there the whole time, and no one got it. Even Ami-chan."

            Minako winced. "Well, I think Kunzite got it - or maybe Zoicite." She tried not to feel gratified by the sudden shock and fear her words caused.

            "But...that's dangerous! You're the princess, why did you put yourself in danger like that?"

            Minako shook her head. "I'm not."

            "But you just said Kunzite knows..."

            "That's not what I meant." _Please, please, PLEASE get it...validate all my hopes, Princess._

            Usagi's eyebrows beetled as she looked intently at her idol, searching the other girl's face for another clue. "But you said you were..."

            "I'm not."

            "But why did you say you were, if you're not? How come you have Artemis, how come you were a senshi before us, how come..." Usagi trailed off in confusion, each denial twisting itself around in her mind to point back at the answer that had been there all along, unnoticed by almost everyone. Her eyes unfocused, looking at Minako but not seeing her, before her blind gaze dropped to the floor.

            "How could I be," Minako asked softly, "when our memories are of a _Moon_ kingdom?"

            "Luna," Usagi murmured, as though that answered everything. Minako waited, as intently still as a deer sensing a predator. "That time, in the ferris wheel. You sang...and it reminded me of Tuxedo Kamen..but it wasn't exactly him."

            "Yuugure made kakete yuku. Kagayaki no egao tsuite yuku kara ne. Ashita mo mata waratte," the idol sang softly. _I'll go into the twilight. My radiant smile will go along with me. Tomorrow I'll smile again._ The delicate lacing of mana tied to the words and the tune shimmered in Minako's mind as she willed her Princess to understand the meaning that lay beneath.

            Usagi blinked as though waking from a dream, then looked up and met Minako's eyes. "You were trying to tell me then, too. And now..."

            Her eyebrows drew together again in concentration as she subconsciously struggled to make sense of the subtle spell. If she weren't completely open at the moment, she never would have noticed the enchantment - but she was paying complete attention now, her mana worrying at the complexities of the golden threads. Minako could almost see the lace unravel and the message unfold. Suddenly, Usagi's eyes widened and she looked directly into Minako's with an expression so intent and piercing that she seemed to look into the other girl's very soul - the look of Princess Moon.

            "You don't think you'll survive, so you made yourself a target." All confusion, all hesitation was gone now, burned away by the Princess's will. "What else haven't you told us, Venus?"

            Minako swallowed, mouth gone dry and palms sweaty again beneath the burning gaze of her Princess. "I..." Now that she had what she'd been searching for, all the pretty phrases she'd been practicing dried up beneath the Princess's intent look and left her mute.

            With a mental shrug, Minako kneeled before Usagi and hesitantly took the Princess's hands in her own, laying them gently on her bowed head. She felt the probing mana, felt Usagi's shock pushed aside by the Princess's concern. Then she felt the Ginzuishou, cool and blindingly pure, and then she felt nothing.


	2. We have to make a decision

            Minako's first thought was, _I feel good._ This was followed by _Where am I?_ and _What happened?_ Then a hand clamped around hers, and a squealing person slammed her into an enthusiastic hug, and she remembered the plan to come to Crown and tell Usagi everything.

            "Minako-chan! You're awake!"

            Aino Minako, not actually fully awake yet, blinked at the ceiling and tried to put her thoughts in order. De-henshining. Singing. The Princess. Once Usagi let go of her hands, she lifted one to her head and tried to probe herself with her mana. No dark clot pulsed angrily at the golden tendrils, no unhealthy shadow sucked the light away. Gingerly, Minako sat up.

            "How do you feel?" Usagi watched intently, but without the Princess's fire. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

            "No," Minako shook her head cautiously. "I feel fine. I-" Whatever else she was going to say was cut off as the odangoed one tackled her back against the couch with a vigorous hug.

            "I was so worried! I remember thinking that you weren't going to survive, and then doing...something...and then the light was gone and you were on the floor, so I put you on the couch and called Ami-chan - her mom's a doctor, so I thought she'd be able to help - and she said she'd be right over but I didn't tell her who you were, just that you were Sailor V, and-" Usagi broke off both the hug and the monolouge as the rest of the evening's revelations caught up. "Oh my gosh! You're Aino Minako! You're _Sailor V!_ And I..."

            Minako grinned as Usagi trailed off, feeling too good to be serious. "And you're the princess, Princess." One slender finger snaked out and poked Usagi lightly on the nose. "Boop."

            "Hey!" Eyes scrunched shut, Usagi rubbed her nose.

            "You should call everyone here," Minako said softly, not wanting to break the carefree mood but being too much a senshi to ignore what should be done. "You should tell everyone."

            "Oh yeah, I guess we should."

            Minako watched Usagi rummage in her bag for a minute. "Usagi-chan?"

            "Mmmm?"

            "Use this."

            Usagi left off searching and turned around to see Minako holding out the open crescent compact.

            "How do I...?"

            The rest of the question remained unasked, because at that moment the empty space between the mirrors split into four images - Ami, walking up towards Crown. Rei, on a bus. Makoto, scrubbing a counter. Luna and Artemis, heads together in conversation.

            "Just talk," Minako said gently.

            Usagi cleared her throat. "Anno..." The three girls turned as one to fetch their phones, and each of their images winked out to be replaced with a close up as they opened their phones. The two cats just turned around and looked at...well, Usagi wasn't sure what they were looking at.

            "What's going on?" Makoto asked, looking curiously to the left and right of her phone.

            "Hold on," Ami said softly. "I'm almost there."

            Rei looked sharply at the tiny image of Usagi in her phone. "How are you doing that?"

            "I don't know, there's too much to explain. Just, everyone come here as quick as you can, okay?" Behind the compact, Minako rolled her eyes and grinned. "Oh yeah! Everything's okay, nobody worry, it's all good news, okay?"

            "I'm at Crown now. See you in a minute." Ami winked out.

            Rei nodded. "This is my stop, I'll be there in a few minutes." Her image went blank as well. The images of Makoto and the cats re-arranged themselves to take advantage of the extra space.

            Makoto looked chagrined. "It's twenty minutes until the next bus," she said miserably. Beneath her image, Artemis managed to look smug.

            "Back up a few steps," he directed.

            Usagi obediently backed up, looking very confused, and suddenly found herself with an armful of cat as Luna leaped out of the tiny image. She hadn't seen Artemis leap, but suddenly he was there, twining around Minako's ankles as the other girl looked intently into the compact, speaking so quietly it was unintelligible. Usagi heard Makoto's tiny voice say "Got it," and then there was a flash of green-gold light that resolved itself into Sailor Jupiter, who laughed sheepishly and de-henshined.

            "What's this all about, Usagi?" Makoto rubbed her hands together briskly, ready to get down to business, and turned to Usagi - who smothered a stab of irrational resentment that Makoto could be so indiffrent to being in the same room as _Aino Minako._

            "We should wait until the other two get here," Artemis said from Minako's lap.

            Makoto turned, nodded at him and at Minako, then froze. Usagi hid a smug look as it sank in to Makoto that she was in the presence of an idol. Minako smiled shyly, arms full of purring white feline

            "Oh my god," Makoto whispered. "You're..."

            "Aino Minako, yes. And Sailor Venus." She sounded amused and resigned at the same time, eyes flicking briefly to Usagi as she waited for the third identification.

            Luckily for her, the door to the secret room opened just then, and Ami hurried down the steps. She didn't appear flustered to be in the presence of an idol, but then again, it's Ami. The scrape as she pulled her chair out and sat down at the table broke Makoto out of her shock, and she also seated herself. Usagi turned to the table, but did not sit. Her usual pink chair beckoned, but right next to it was the white chair - the one never used, the one reserved for the princess. She hesitated. Which chair should she use? The door slammed open again, and Usagi was spared the awkward decision by Rei's panting arrival.

            "Okay, I ran all the way from the bus stop. I felt a disturbance here half an hour ago and came all the way from the shrine because I was sure there was a-" she faltered, catching sight of Minako on the couch and not wanting to say _youma_ in front of a non-senshi. "-what is _she_ doing here?"

            "Rei-chan!" Usagi pouted at the fire senshi's rudeness. "Minako-chan is-"

            "I thought you would have recognized me, Mars." Minako's voice cut through Usagi's. "That time, in the church. It wasn't coincidence that I was there. I thought that you would be able to figure it out, so I went to where I knew you would be."

            Rei's eyes narrowed at Minako's challenging tone and she stalked down the stairs, dismissing the worried looks she was getting from her friends. She stopped in front of the couch, where Minako met her angry stare with an equally challenging look.

            "I should have known," Rei said at last, still radiating hostility. "There couldn't be two people in this world as arrogant as you."

            "Anno, Usagi-chan?" Ami looked nervously between the unfolding drama and the pigtailed girl with the cat in her arms. "You said you had news...?"

            Makoto also tore her eyes away from the couch, loyalty to her friend and defense of her favorite idol warring in her face. "What's going on, Usagi?"

            Luna butted Usagi's cheek with her head, and the girl looked around. "Oh...yeah! Everyone, Aino Minako is Sailor V!"

            Two sets of senshi eyes swiveled back to the drama by the couch. Rei glared on, ignoring the looks. Minako gave a small wave, unconcened with the glare she was getting from the fire senshi.

            "So you finally decided to stop playing games with us, _Princess?"_

            Minako looked at Rei mildly, eyebrows raised in a superior expression that made Rei grit her teeth in annoyance. "I'm not the Princess," she said slowly.

            Three sets of eyes looked at her in different variations of shock. Skeptical shock from Rei, Wary shock from Ami, and complete shock from Makoto. Luna looked at Minako measuringly, then glanced at Usagi before looking back with a question in her eyes. Minako gave the black cat a tiny nod, while Artemis managed to look even more smug.

            Rei, of course, recovered first. "You _lied_ to us?" she hissed.

            "I had to," Minako said with an unrepentant shrug. "Everyone had to think that I was the Princess so that the enemy wouldn't figure out who the real Princess was." She met Ami's eyes briefly, and rewarded her with that same grave nod as Ami's gaze flicked to Usagi and back.

            "So you _lied_ to us and made yourself a target." Rei seemed to be angrier about that second accusation than the first. "What were you _thinking_?"

            Minako tried not to smile at the furious concern in Rei's voice, and she could see Makoto and Ami doing the same behind Rei. As she opened her mouth to answer, however, Usagi cut her off.

            "She was thinking, _'I have to keep the Princess safe'_." Usagi swallowed as everyone turned to look at her. "She was thinking, _'I have to make sure the Dark kingdom doesn't find the Princess before she awakens.'_ And she was thinking, _'If the Princess doesn't awaken soon, this tumor will kill me and I won't be able to protect her.'_ That's-" Usagi's voice broke, and she looked at Minako in awed realization. "That's why you were so distant. That's why you wouldn't fight with us." Tears streamed down her cheeks, and Luna licked at them as they reached her chin. "You didn't want your death to hurt us - you thought it wouldn't be as bad if we weren't friends."

            The other senshi stared at Minako, who lifted her chin slightly and silently challenged them to find fault in her decision. Rei groped behind her for her seat and sat awkwardly in the purple chair, finally shocked out of her anger. For a long moment she looked at Minako, then at Usagi.

            "How do you know exactly what she was thinking?"

            Luna, Artemis, Ami, and Minako all looked at Usagi, waiting. Makoto recognized Rei's tone as expecting a confirmation rather than an answer, and looked at the pigtailed girl curiously. Usagi blinked.

            "I, um, I guess I picked up on it when I healed her with the power of the Ginzuishou."

            Luna's ears swiveled towards Usagi, but it was Artemis - or perhaps Minako - that she looked sharply at. Ami met Rei's eyes briefly, both senshi shocked at how casually Usagi mentioned using the power of something they'd only heard rumors of.

            "Wait," Makoto piped up, one hand in the air as though she were in class. "Minako-chan, does that mean you're not going to die now?"

            Minako nodded. "I can't detect the tumor any more. Boss-san will have to see the results of all the tests he's got scheduled for me before he can be convinced that I'm not in danger, and I'll have to go back to the doctor regularly until they're convinced I'm okay." A wry smile twisted her lips. "They think I've been having severe migraines - I can't very well tell them that it was a life-sucking tumor created by evil magic, and that Sailor Moon healed me." That got knowing smiles and nodding heads all around.

            "So...who _is_ the Princess?" Makoto asked slowly.

            Usagi held Luna tighter; no one looked directly at her. The moment stretched out, becoming strained. No one moved. Finally, Usagi took one stiff step to the table and pulled a chair away from it. Luna hopped out of her arms, leaving her to sit clumsily in the white chair. She folded her hands in her lap and stared at the surface of the table as though it were the most fascinating thing in the world.

            "I am," she said quietly.

            In the silence that followed, Minako stood up with Artemis still in her arms and quietly walked the short distance to the only unoccupied chair at the table. As she pulled the pink chair away from the table, the color sparkled and faded into a light orangey-yellow. Artemis jumped out of her arms as she sat, landing gracefully on the table to take a position next to Luna. Minako leaned forward on her elbows, chin resting lightly on her interlaced fingers.

            "So," the self-appointed decoy said, and the word dropped into silence like a stone in a pond. "What are we going to do now?"

            Usagi looked at her hopelessly; Mars, condescendingly. Makoto and Ami tore their eyes away from the Princess and waited.

            "Gomen nasai, I'm not sure I understand." Ami awkwardly made a small half-bow.

            "We have to make a decision," Minako clarified, looking at Rei. "The enemy thinks I'm the Princess, and knows there's friction between Venus and Mars."

            "If we fight together," Makoto said slowly, looking between Minako and Rei, "they'll know something changed. If suddenly Sailor Venus is taking orders from Sailor Moon..."

            "...the enemy will know she wasn't the Princess." Rei held Minako's eyes for a long moment, then glanced briefly at Usagi. Minako nodded; the enemy would realize who the Princess really was and target Sailor Moon.

            "Think we can keep up the appearance of friction?" Minako tilted her head to one side and gave Rei a wry smile.

            "Oh, I think we can manage," Rei deadpanned.

            "There's something else," Ami put forth shyly, blushing when both senshi turned to look at her. "That is...the enemy knows that Venus is - was - hurt and weak. If she isn't...that is, if Sailor Venus is suddenly well again..." she trailed off awkwardly. "There's a kind of bird...the mother lures predators away from the nest by pretending to have a broken wing. When the predator is far enough away, she flies back to the nest."

            Makoto gave Minako a measuring look. "We could set a trap."

            "Mou, it's not that simple." Luna sighed. "Artemis has been helping me remember what happened when the Moon Kingdom fell." Behind her, Usagi stiffened, eyes still firmly fixed on the tabletop. "The Princess was deeply in love with Prince Endymion of Earth, and he loved her just as deeply. The Dark Kingdm's generals were the closest companions of the Prince, just as you four were the Princess's companions."

            "There was an arranged marriage," Artemis said gravely. "It was the duty of all of you - senshi and generals both - to ensure that nothing interfered with it. The arrangement was very specific; there would be war if the marriage was not carried out. The problem was that while the Prince was the bridegroom, someone else was the bride." He closed his eyes, unable to meet those of the senshi looking at him in horror.

            Luna licked his head in a feline gesture of comfort. "At the time of the Prince and the Princess's meeting, no one knew there was an arranged marriage. When the future bride arrived, the news was not well-recieved - but no one wanted the war that Earth was sure to wage if the Prince broke the arrangement. And that meant that you four were charged with keeping the Princess away from the Prince, and the Prince's generals were given the same duty."

            There was an awkward silence. No one looked at Usagi. Ami, Makoto, and Rei looked amongst themselves, outraged that their past lives would have been given such an order, and realizing the horrible choice they'd had: let their Princess have her happiness, or plunge two worlds into a bitter war.

            "We failed," Minako said bitterly. "If you were wondering. All of us. We didn't keep the Prince and the Princess apart, the armies of Earth came against the Moon, and in despair the Princess used the power of the Ginzuishou." Her fingers no longer interlaced casually; now her hands gripped each other so tightly that the knuckles were white. She met the eyes of the other three in turn, and each girl flinched away from the raw pain in Minako's eyes.

            After another painful silence, Ami spoke up timidly. "Who was the bride?"

            Artemis sighed. "Her name was Beryl."

            Usagi made a choked sound, head still down. No one looked at her, wanting to spare her as much as possible.

            "You're telling me that our honor as senshi requires us to essentially hand Tuxedo Kamen to Queen Beryl and let Usagi suffer because if we don't, Beryl will declare war on...the world?" The harsh tone of Rei's words brought to mind the fury of a roaring fire. "That's not right!"

            "What's right is not always popular," Minako said quietly. "What's right is not always legal. What's right is not always what's best for everyone." She and Rei locked gazes, and the tension crackled.

            "The Moon Kingdom is no more," Artemis pointed out with an embarassed cough. "There is no one left that cares about the arranged marriage except for us, and the Dark Kingdom. Nothing left to hold you all to the mission you swore your lives to, on your honor as senshi - except your honor as senshi."

            "You're suggesting we _break our oaths_?" Makoto exclaimed, then blinked in surprise at the vehamence in her own voice.

            Rei and Ami exchanged guilty looks, while Minako just looked grim. It summed up everyone's chaotic thoughts. Which was the right course of action? To suffer in this life for the honor of the other, or to throw away the code they'd lived and died by and declare it obsolete? They were  uncomfortably aware that by the standards of their past lives, they would become the 'bad guys', and this grated against the knowledge that in the modern age, that same honor required them to protect the general public - and go against what they swore to do to prevent a war.

            "I don't like it," Ami said quietly.

            "I don't like it, either. Either we hand Beryl the world-" Minako grimaced, and everyone else flinched slightly. "-or we become forsworn by going back on our word but save the world."

            For a minute, no one said anything. The senshi stared at each other or at the surface of the table, occasionally stealing glances at Usagi or the cats. Finally, Makoto slammed both palms against the table and stood up so forcefully that her chair tipped over.

            "I don't care if I become forsworn - I'm NOT handing the world over to the Dark Kingdom, and I'm NOT abandoning my Princess!" She met Usagi's eyes as the other girl looked up in shock and nodded grimly. "We swore ourselves to the Princess, too, and that oath takes precedence." Hands now on her hips, she looked at the others as if daring them to take her to fault. "And anyway, Mamoru promised to marry Hina, so he's the one breaking the arrangement, not us."

            "Mamoru...?" Usagi's voice wavered as she looked at Makoto in confusion.

            "I didn't tell you," the taller girl said gently. "I saw him transform in the park."

            Rei's head came up like a hound scenting a fox. "Our oaths don't mention Metallia," she said, her voice firm. "And we never swore to not fight youma."

            Ami nodded. "We never promised to let her drain people's energy, or to give her the Ginzuishou, either." All three turned to look expectantly at Minako. After a moment, Usagi did the same.

            "You had to make the choice for youselves," she said calmly. "Artemis and I weren't going to make it for you."

            "We've made our choices," Rei said, arms crossed over her chest. "Now what's yours?"

            Minako just raised an eyebrow. "What do you _think_ my choice is? I put my life on the line as a decoy to protect the Princess - who, by the way, Tuxedo Kamen still thinks is me. And we're going to have a problem if he remembers the marriage agreement; there's a good chance he'll go to Beryl if he thinks the Princess is in danger, in order to protect the Princess...and if he does, he won't lift a finger against her unless she attacks the Princess after he put himself in her grasp."

            The other senshi nodded solemnly, mentally preparing themselves for that eventual battle. Usagi looked at each of them in turn, slightly bewildered at their grim faces.

            "Now that you've decided," Artemis broke in, "we can decide on a course of action."

            "Mamoru has to be told," Makoto said immediately.

            Minako nodded. "Tuxedo Kamen's come to Sailor Moon's aid often enough that it won't be suspiscious if he defends her instead of me, and I don't trust him to be able to pretend that I'm the Princess if he knows the truth. I can find him and tell him myself, but I'd prefer if you came with me."

            "Me?"

            "He knows you know who he is, right?" At Makoto's slightly guilty nod, Minako continued. "Then he knows that you have nothing to gain from lying to him about who the Princess is. It should cut down on the arguments." The two senshi smiled at the irony of the situation.

            "Venus is still going to be...hurt...right?" Ami looked between Artemis and Minako, and both nodded back.

            "I can keep having 'incidents'. In fact, I have to - I have an appointment in three days. Better everyone thinks the 'incidents' were stress-related migraines, and let them prescribe less activity than to have some doctor wondering why I'm suddenly better."

            "Wait a minute," Rei broke in. "I know you're healed now, but I want to know exacly what this tumor was...and are you sure they didn't find it? It's going to be very awkward if you have to explain why you don't have it anymore."

            Minako bit her lip and looked sideways at Artemis. "Kunzite placed a curse on me," she said, not meeting anyone's eyes. "It was a shard of dark energy that fed on my mana and my life force, weakening me in proportion to how strong the evil was in Kunzite. When it started...getting bad, Boss-san ordered x-rays, but nothing showed up. I've got a CAT scan and an MRI scheduled to be on the safe side. When nothing shows up..." Minako shrugged and glanced around the table. "They'll think it was migraines caused by too much stress, and Boss-san will wring his hands and tell me I need to get more rest, and I'll fake a few more migraines over the course of a week, and that will be the end of it."

            "If it was linked to Kunzite, won't he know that you..." Ami trailed off, unsure of how to end the question.

            "We think Beryl's control has...blotted out his memory of it," Artemis said. "Which brings us to the next topic: the four generals. What are we going to do about them?"

            "They weren't always evil," Rei said softly.

            Six sets of eyes - four human, two feline - turned to Usagi. "Why are you all looking at me? I don't even know how I healed Minako-chan! I can try to heal one of the generals, but..." She bit her lip. "Mamoru is really Tuxedo Kamen and Prince Endymion, and I'm the Princess, and Minako-chan is Sailor V...it's too much! Aaaah, I need time to think about everything!"

            Rei and Minako patted her shoulders comfortingly as she hid her face in her arms and slumped over onto the table, shaking her head and muttering. As Ami and Makoto got up to come around the table and hug their princess, Minako stood and offered Ami her chair. Makoto gave the whimpering girl a hug, then turned and made eye contact with Minako. Together, the two of them retreated to a corner for a whispered planning session.

            Eventually, Rei and Ami took a cab to the Tsukino house for an impromptu sleepover and the promise of going out to breakfast in the morning. Sailors Venus and Jupiter vanished in a flare of green-gold light, leaving the cats to curl up on the couch for a nap.


	3. So now you know everything

            Chiba Mamoru, sometimes protector and occasional jewel thief, was washing dishes in his apartment when the flash of light came from the back room. He dried his hands carefully on a towel and calmly armed himself with a large carving knife and its companion fork before moving cautiously out of the kitchen. When he reached the doorway of the back room, he flattened himself against the wall and used the blade of the knife to see into the room. After a moment, he sighed and stepped into the doorway to face the obviously unhappy senshi who stood in the middle of the room.

            "You're here to punch me again?"

            Sailor Jupiter shifted her weight to the other foot, arms crossed. "I would, but Usagi's gone through enough today."

            "Then why are you here?"

            "Because you have a choice to make. And you're going to know all the stakes before you make it."

            Mamoru looked nonplussed. "Would you mind terribly if I finished what I was doing while you tell me?" He gestured with the carving fork.

            Caught off-guard, Jupiter nodded jerkily, then shook her head, then made a sound of frustration. "Whatever."

            Mamoru led the senshi back to the kitchen, where he put the knife and fork back in their places. "So what are these stakes?" he asked, plunging his hands back into the soapy water in the sink.

            "It has to do with the Princess." Jupiter grinned as Mamoru's back went stiff and he took is hands back out of the dishwater.

            "What about her?" His voice was cold; the jewel-thief voice.

            "You have to chose which promise to keep - your promise to marry Hina," Sailor Jupiter's voice dropped to arctic levels on the other woman's name, "Prince Endymion's promise to marry Beryl," if possible, her voice got even colder. "Or your promises to the Princess."

            Mamoru's eyes narrowed. "I'm surprised you're not throwing Usagi in there."

            "Oh, but I am." Jupiter grinned toothily. "Usagi is the Princess."

            "Nice try," Mamoru shot back. "but you weren't there when the Princess revealed herself."

            "No," said a new voice, "but I was."

            Sailor Venus stepped out of the back room in all of her peudo-Princess glory, and grimaced at the rapt look Mamoru directed at her.

            "Princess..."

            "I'm not the Princess." The glamour fell away, the crown faded out, and Sailor Venus no longer looked so splendid.

            The two senshi watched as Mamoru's face got a closed expression. "A decoy?"

            Venus nodded. "Until she remembered who she was. I chose to present a more tempting target to our enemies while Sailor Moon got the hang of things."

            For the second time in almost as many minutes, Mamou dried his hands. "And you're saying that as Prince Endymion, I promised to mary Beryl?"

            "It was a political arrangement." Jupiter sounded resigned. "I didn't remember it until Venus mentioned it - and then I remembered thinking that the ambassador looked like a greasy weasel, and that I wouldn't put it past him to have faked the documents."

            "I wouldn't, either." Mamoru rubbed his temples. "Beryl was the very vocal head of a faction that thought Earth's royalty should marry within its own nobility-" he broke off and looked at the other two in surprise, then covered his face again. "-damn. She _is_ the princess."

            "For obvious reasons, we're going to continue the deception until she's more secure in her powers." Venus made a very arrogant gesture, and the Princes glamour faded back into place around her.

            "So now you know everything," Jupiter said with a touch of malicious pleasure. "And you get the same choice we got - do the right thing and dishonor your past life, or keep your word and do the wrong thing for this life. Of course, you get the extra headache of what to do about Hina."

            Mamoru groaned and closed his eyes, head bowed.

            "We'll leave you to it, then," Venus said coolly. There was another flash of light, and when the Prince of Earth opened his eyes again, he was alone.


End file.
